The Computing Community Consortium (CCC), in conjunction with Schmidt Futures, will sponsor and administer a white paper competition on the future of “CS for Social Good,” in order to harness CS to address societal challenges such as:
- Accelerating the transition to a low-carbon economy;
- Reducing the inter-generational transmission of poverty;
- Feeding 10 billion people while reducing the environmental footprint of agriculture;
- Reducing the time and cost for a low-income worker to gain a skill that is a ticket to the middle class;
- Using data to support evidence-based policy while protecting privacy and security;
- Reducing health care costs while maintaining or improving health outcomes; and
- Improving K-12 student learning outcomes in core academic subjects such as math.
White papers should propose new directions for research as well as new ideas about public-private partnerships or education (at both the undergraduate and graduate level); they should also make the case for resources to support the associated initiatives. One particular area of interest is the role that datasets can play in accelerating applications of AI and machine learning that address key societal challenges.
As part of its mission to catalyze the computing research community and enable the pursuit of innovative, high-impact research, CCC will work to operationalize the results of the associated initiatives through potential visioning activities and/or it’s Symposium on Addressing National Priorities and Societal Needs.
The winning teams will:
- Receive an honorarium for the writing team (actual amount dependent on number of submissions, but in the $10,000-$20,000 range)
- Present their paper at the CCC Symposium (Addressing National Priorities and Societal Needs) in Washington, DC in Spring, 2020
- Have the opportunity to present their idea to the staff of Schmidt Futures.
White papers should be no more than 6 pages in length and a multidisciplinary team should author them. A panel of judges from the community will review the white papers. The number of winners in each category will depend on the number of submissions. White papers must be submitted here by June 28, 2019 and winners will be announced by September 15, 2019.
